Reminiscence narrated on a pleasure yacht becalmed off Phillip Island, by an ex-army Major. He recalls the tale of an old school friend met as a convict in Van Diemen's Land. A sensitive youth, betrayed when his wife ran away with his best friend, is convicted of forgery years later when he is the victim of a confidence trick in his brother's business ... Interesting tale, set in breezy 1890s frame. (PB)